Everyone within the GitLab team is encouraged to live stream their meetings and events on GitLab Unfiltered. First time livestreaming? Find out how below!
Why livestream?
We prefer livestreaming over uploading because:
it allows more people to participate in real-time.
You don't have to upload the video to YouTube later on (extra step).
You can't forget about uploading the video.
It is clear to all participants that the content will be public.
But it can happen that you're not in a livestream and something interesting comes up.
In that case, you can upload it to YouTube.
Add your webcam as a "Video Capture Device" from the Sources tool:
Post everything
We post everything that doesn't contain confidential information to YouTube.
We found that it helps with:
Hiring because candidates can get a feel for the company by seeing meetings.
Retention because sharing reinforces our value of transparency.
Community because people feel more part of what is happening at the company.
Sales because people see our training materials they sell themselves.
Enablement because people can find detailed content about certain subjects.
Awareness because lots of time is spent on YouTube and our videos get lots of views in aggregate.
Training because content on YouTube is easier to consume even for team members, see why not Google Drive
No quality bar
You don't need to be worried that something is not of the high enough quality because:
The GitLab Unfiltered YouTube account is our causal space for communicating and sharing with the public. Content on the Unfiltered channel includes, but is not limited to, team meetings, discussions, monthly release kick-offs, office hours, CEO 101 meetings, and nonformal demos.
Algorithms will ensure that a video will be distributed to the right-sized audience.
We can embed videos if and where they are relevant, for example in docs.
Enhance videos later if we need to (trim it so it starts immediately, add transcript, extensive description, links to relevant materials).
Follow up later if we need to (rerecord, do an interview).
No extra work
Creating content for the Unfiltered channel shouldn't be extra work.
You should do what you normally do.
But when a meeting is possibly interesting for more people, make it a livestream for the Unfiltered channel.
Or when you start talking about something possibly relevant to more people, hit the record button.
Make private quickly
In case there are any concerns raised about a video on the Unfiltered channel, everyone has the authority to make it private.
You don't have to wait for any permission, just go to the channel specific YouTube Studio, here is the one for unfiltered and mark the video private.
Please note that there is another tab for live videos.
If you mark a video private when it doesn't need to be, it is be easy to undo: simply mark the video public.
Why not Google Drive
Always use YouTube and never use Google Drive, even for private videos, because YouTube videos:
will be served to people when it is relevant, automatically, since YouTube is a distribution channel.
allows anyone to contribute by leaving comments.
public videos show up in Google search.
easy to make public if the video is suitable for that.
have playlists that allow for better organization of the video content.
Channels
There are two YouTube channels we use at GitLab:
Branded: used for content intended for people in the wider community, including marketing and event content, customer, community and user stories, employment branding, and polished sales videos and demos. For example our GitLab informercial.
Unfiltered: used for content intended for team and community members, including (but not limited to) team meetings, discussions, monthly release kick-offs, office hours, CEO 101 meetings, and casual demos. For example a weekly meeting of the Plan group.
Visibility
There are three types of visibility:
Main
Public
Private
The level of visibility should be displayed clearly in the titles of calendar invites.
For example, when you do a livesteam to the public channel say: "Public stream" at the start of the invite.
You can skip live in livestream since every stream is live.
Do not say Unfiltered stream since it is ambiguous.
Do not say just livestream since people don't know what the level of access is.
We don't post:
Unlisted videos on any channel, it is too insecure for sensitive materials and not findable enough for public materials.
Private videos on our branded channel, all videos on that channel are intended for a wider audience.
Use Google Drive for any video, since it has many drawbacks.
Unable to view a video on Youtube
If you get a "Video unavailable This video is private." error on youtube, the error may be caused because the video is private to GitLab Unfiltered and you are accessing the video with your individual Youtube account. In order to see the video, click your photo or icon in the top right of Youtube, then click > Switch Account > GitLab Unfiltered. Once you are on GitLab unfiltered, reload the page and you can view the video.
GitLab Unfiltered: Everyone should get access to YouTube Unfiltered during onboarding. If you do not see an invitation in your Inbox, please check the Pending Invitations section of your GSuite account. If your invitation is not there, please request a new invitation in the peopleops Slack channel.
Commenting
Remember that when you're signed into YouTube using an official GitLab account that any interaction you may have with other groups or people on the site (e.g. such as in the comments sections of videos) will be perceived as official communication from the company. In almost all cases, unless your job specifically requires you to interact in a community manager role or capacity, it is best to switch to a personal account prior to engaging with a video or user on YouTube.
Organizing
Our YouTube channels contain a lot of content.
As a result, it can often be hard to find videos once they are published, particularly on the Unfiltered channel.
Make liberal use of tags and playlists to organize the video content you publish.
For published recordings of recurring meetings, which should be posted on the Unfiltered channel, please search for a playlist to put the video in. If there is no applicable playlist. please create one.
Starting a recorded video that is/is not Livestreamed
The below instructions apply to either livestreams to YouTube or recorded videos that are uploaded to YouTube soon afterwards.
When the meeting or call is about to start (5 seconds or so before the start time), the moderator starts the recording and everyone on the call can hear: "This call is being recorded". This ensures that there is no empty space at the beginning of the call.
If the meeting is to be livestreamed, the moderator asks the host "Can I initiate/start the countdown?" and waits for confirmation. The moderator counts down from three ("I'll start the countdown for this public/private stream in 3, 2, 1"), and nothing else is said by the moderator beyond this point so that so it is not accidentally recorded. Click Live to YouTube and start the livestream. Be sure not to click Live to YouTube any earlier than 1 minute before the start.
If the meeting is only to be recorded, the moderator does not complete Step 2 above.
The host should do an introduction stating who they are, what their role is, and what the meeting is about, e.g. "I am Jane Doe, the VP of Widget Production, and today's Group Conversation is about the molding phase of widget production."
Unless stated or arranged otherwise, our expected behavior is that the meeting organizer is responsible for distributing the video after the meeting.
Log in to the Zoom account of the meeting and go to the menu on the right and choose "My Recordings" (it can take up to 30 minutes before the recording is available to be shared).
Select the meeting and download the recording to your computer (if you can't find the recording because it was a while ago check "Trash" in the menu on the top left and "Recover" the recording).
Go to the YouTube upload page and log into the channel. If you're logged into your personal YouTube account, you may need to first log into your GitLab YouTube account to access the channel. If you're already logged into your GitLab YouTube account and have access to the channel, you need to switch accounts to that channel. To switch accounts, click on the account icon in the top right corner and then click "Switch account".
Drag and drop your recording into the window to upload it. Keep the privacy dropdown on the default 'Public' setting (unless there is confidential material). Use the dropdown menu to set the video to private if it the video contains confidential material.
While it's uploading, edit the title and description. Place "Confidential:" at the beginning of the video's title if the video will be kept private on our YouTube channel.
Be sure to include relevant links (for example a handbook page or presentation) in the description, and add the video to any relevant playlists.
When it is done uploading, press publish, then click on the Embed tab and copy the code, and insert that in the relevant part of the handbook or documentation.
After uploading a video to the GitLab Unfiltered channel, be sure to add a link to the new video in the #content-updates channel in Slack.
Don't worry about the quality
There is no minimum quality, so please share it on our GitLab Unfiltered YouTube channel, as long as there is nothing inappropriate or confidential.
Everyone at the company probably has at least one conversation every week that is relevant to more people, so please share it.
We always list videos publicly instead of having them unlisted, unless there is confidential material. This allows more people to find the content. If the material is confidential, set the video to private.
Don't worry about whether or not it will be interesting to absolutely everyone. Just give it a descriptive title so people know what it is about, and let them decide whether or not they should watch it.
Make sure that all participants are aware that you're recording.
You don't have to be sure it is interesting and OK to share when you start recording; you can make that decision after the fact.
If you record an in-person conversation with your mobile phone please hold your phone in landscape (horizontal) mode.
Advanced setups
Depending on your needs, you might want use software to provide overlays and/or reroute audio.
99% of the people at GitLab don't use this, but see below for instructions if you do want to use it.
Copy your encoder variables en setup your live streaming environment with the YouTube live dashboard
Open up OBS Studio and open preferences
Input your encoder variables under "Stream"
Configure your to-be-recorded software's audio to be rerouted to an alternative audio source/output.
Under "Audio" in OBS Studio preferences, select the alternative audio source/output under Mic/Auxiliary Device 2. See this page for more help
Under "Video" select your preferred resolution and fps settings. Please take note that these should optimally reflect video aspect ratio such as 1920x1080.
Optionally you can set up some output options under "Output"
In the normal window of OBS Studio you should now see 2 audio sliders, including "Mic/Aux 2". Configure these to your liking.
Select "Start Streaming": You are now streaming
Go to your YouTube live dashboard to see your live stream and interact with your viewers.
